Hi, I'm Martijn Vreugde this is a collection of my rambling thoughts on modern media, inspirational design and... well pretty much anything I found interesting enough to share with you fine upstanding folks of the internet.
There is an aspect to Web design that no one likes to talk about: spec’ing. We all do it, we all hate it, but we also understand that specs are vital to both designers and developers.
For those who aren’t familiar with the term in this context, “specs” is short for specifications — in the case of design, they are instructions that specify colors, fonts, sizes, spacing and so on, just like a blueprint. Specs are a crucial part of the design and development process for companies with big teams and for small companies that have to outsource some of their development. Specs function not only as instructions to developers, but also as a reference point to make sure the whole team is on the same page.
However, the process of producing specs is repetitive and time-consuming, especially for creatives. But now this can all change:Specctr, together with Adobe Fireworks, offers a quick and easy way to generate this important information automatically.
Google Chrome has been long expected to leapfrog Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) to take its position as the Web’s most used browser and, according to data from Statcounter, the momentous change of leadership happened last week.
The firm’s latest figures — spotted by Global Nerdy blogger Joey deVilla – show that Chrome’s line of usage creeped overtook IE’s for the first week ever, with Firefox, Safari and Opera completing the top five respectively.
Statcounter’s findings give Google a double win, after the analytics site found that its mobile browser — Android Robot — had leapfrogged Opera to become the most popular option for mobile-based Web surfers in March.
Measuring the Web is an imprecise science, very often based on scaling up small scale measurement surveys, but the gist of Statcounter’s data over the last year indicates that Chrome use is rising of Chrome at the expense of IE and Firefox, regardless of the exact precision of the data.
Statcounter first found Chrome to be ahead for just one day, back on March 18, and its breakdown of browser usage over May to date puts Chrome and IE almost neck-and-neck at around 33 percent for the month. However, given that last week saw Chrome push ahead, May could become the first month during which the Google-owned browser has been the most popular option.
Google is big on internationalising its service and Chrome is now different. For example, its My Chrome Theme social tool just became available in 36 more languages, to help increase its appeal across the planet.
Microsoft isn’t taking the challenge lying down and Statcounter recently suggested that the latest version of IE (9) is making progress, and is seeing particularly marked usage over the weekends.
Regardless of whether Chrome can maintain its momentum over the rest of May to top the month’s use, Chrome is on the up and we’d expect it to reign supreme in the Web browser world sooner rather than later.
Introducing Google’s Knowledge Graph
Search is a lot about discovery—the basic human need to learn and broaden your horizons. But searching still requires a lot of hard work by you, the user. So today I’m really excited to launch the Knowledge Graph, which will help you discover new information quickly and easily.
Take a query like [taj mahal]. For more than four decades, search has essentially been about matching keywords to queries. To a search engine the words [taj mahal] have been just that—two words.
But we all know that [taj mahal] has a much richer meaning. You might think of one of the world’s most beautiful monuments, or a Grammy Award-winning musician, or possibly even a casino in Atlantic City, NJ. Or, depending on when you last ate, the nearest Indian restaurant. It’s why we’ve been working on an intelligent model—in geek-speak, a “graph”—that understands real-world entities and their relationships to one another: things, not strings.
The Knowledge Graph enables you to search for things, people or places that Google knows about—landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, celestial objects, works of art and more—and instantly get information that’s relevant to your query. This is a critical first step towards building the next generation of search, which taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do.
Google’s Knowledge Graph isn’t just rooted in public sources such as Freebase, Wikipedia and the CIA World Factbook. It’s also augmented at a much larger scale—because we’re focused on comprehensive breadth and depth. It currently contains more than 500 million objects, as well as more than 3.5 billion facts about and relationships between these different objects. And it’s tuned based on what people search for, and what we find out on the web.
The Knowledge Graph enhances Google Search in three main ways to start:
1. Find the right thing Language can be ambiguous—do you mean Taj Mahal the monument, or Taj Mahal the musician? Now Google understands the difference, and can narrow your search results just to the one you mean—just click on one of the links to see that particular slice of results:
This is one way the Knowledge Graph makes Google Search more intelligent—your results are more relevant because we understand these entities, and the nuances in their meaning, the way you do.
2. Get the best summary With the Knowledge Graph, Google can better understand your query, so we can summarize relevant content around that topic, including key facts you’re likely to need for that particular thing. For example, if you’re looking for Marie Curie, you’ll see when she was born and died, but you’ll also get details on her education and scientific discoveries:
How do we know which facts are most likely to be needed for each item? For that, we go back to our users and study in aggregate what they’ve been asking Google about each item. For example, people are interested in knowing what books Charles Dickens wrote, whereas they’re less interested in what books Frank Lloyd Wright wrote, and more in what buildings he designed.
The Knowledge Graph also helps us understand the relationships between things. Marie Curie is a person in the Knowledge Graph, and she had two children, one of whom also won a Nobel Prize, as well as a husband, Pierre Curie, who claimed a third Nobel Prize for the family. All of these are linked in our graph. It’s not just a catalog of objects; it also models all these inter-relationships. It’s the intelligence between these different entities that’s the key.
3. Go deeper and broader Finally, the part that’s the most fun of all—the Knowledge Graph can help you make some unexpected discoveries. You might learn a new fact or new connection that prompts a whole new line of inquiry. Do you know where Matt Groening, the creator of the Simpsons (one of my all-time favorite shows), got the idea for Homer, Marge and Lisa’s names? It’s a bit of a surprise:
We’ve always believed that the perfect search engine should understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want. And we can now sometimes help answer your next question before you’ve asked it, because the facts we show are informed by what other people have searched for. For example, the information we show for Tom Cruise answers 37 percent of next queries that people ask about him. In fact, some of the most serendipitous discoveries I’ve made using the Knowledge Graph are through the magical “People also search for” feature. One of my favorite books is The White Tiger, the debut novel by Aravind Adiga, which won the prestigious Man Booker Prize. Using the Knowledge Graph, I discovered three other books that had won the same prize and one that won the Pulitzer. I can tell you, this suggestion was spot on!
We’ve begun to gradually roll out this view of the Knowledge Graph to U.S. English users. It’s also going to be available on smartphones and tablets—read more about how we’ve tailored this to mobile devices. And watch our video (also available on oursite about the Knowledge Graph) that gives a deeper dive into the details and technology, in the words of people who’ve worked on this project:
We hope this added intelligence will give you a more complete picture of your interest, provide smarter search results, and pique your curiosity on new topics. We’re proud of our first baby step—the Knowledge Graph—which will enable us to make search more intelligent, moving us closer to the “Star Trek computer” that I’ve always dreamt of building. Enjoy your lifelong journey of discovery, made easier by Google Search, so you can spend less time searching and more time doing what you love.
Posted by Amit Singhal, SVP, Engineering
FNB, leagues ahead of the pack
FNB continue to build competitive advantage over their Big Four counterparts. Recently they’ve rewired their offering and communication to focus on benefits and value. In another milestone they have just launched their new branch concept: Dot FNB is a high-tech, service geared, cashless environment (except for ATMs) that’s said to be “a whole new level in banking efficiency”.
The clear line of sight, high tech feel and counter full of tablets on display make it easily mistakable for a technology retailer.
Their apps are built for all platforms (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Palm and Nokia) so they offer the latest model gadgets.
With Microsoft Surface they’ve developed an interactive table with financial planning tools (gimmick maybe, but this table features often in design concepts and far less often in reality):
Their Dot FNB app uses augmented reality to overlay information on things within the branch. If you point a device running the app at any of their products (which are merchandised in boxes) the app unpacks the box in front of your eyes to let you know what features that product offers:
If you point the device at an FNB logo it brings up the history of FNB:
The branch only features electronic posters, which I’d presume can be centrally controlled across all their branches:
Their conference cubicles offer very efficient video conferencing technology for video consultations, so you can chat face to face with your banker from any branch with this feature:
To top off the new branch they only close at 19:00 on week days and 16:00 on Sundays and public holidays:
Disclaimer: the gentleman that showed me around gave me permission to take photos and blog them, saying, “why not, free advertising..”
Back in the early days of human existence, before language had fully developed, our caveman ancestors probably did a lot of grunting. Language, and thus life, were pretty simple: watch out for that saber-toothed tiger (“Blorg! AIYA!!!”); stop riding the wooly mammoth and help me pick some berries (“Argh. Zagle zorg!”); man, it’s cold in this Ice Age (“Brrrr.”).
Somewhere along the line, all those grunts diverged into thousands of distinct languages, and life became both richer and more complicated. And for the last few eons or so, we’ve struggled to communicate in a multilingual world. Which brings us to today. Since the heart and soul of Gmail is about helping people communicate, I’m proud to announce the integration of Google’s automatic translation technology directly into Gmail.
Simply enable “Message Translation” from the Labs tab under Settings, and when you receive an email in a language other than your own, Gmail will help you translate it into a language you can understand. In one click.
If all parties are using Gmail, you can have entire conversations in multiple languages with each participant reading the messages in whatever language is most comfortable for them. It’s not quite the universal translators we’re so fond of from science fiction, but thanks to Google Translate, it’s an exciting step in the right direction. I use this feature everyday to help me work with teammates around the globe (they think my Japanese is much better than it really is…shhhh!).
Whether you’re reading a family update from inlaws on the other side of the world, working with a multinational team, or just trying to bring about world peace, don’t worry, Gmail’s got your back.
It’s been a long time in the making, but the once-mythical cloud storage service known to all as Google Drive is real, and it made its official debut today — and even though Goog’s taken plenty of time to make it available to the masses, our impatience certainly got the worst of us, and we immediately started digging through the new service. So what does this online storage option entail? Will it make you delete your Dropbox and SkyDrive accounts and jump for joy? Or has Google simply waited too long to start playing the game? Read on to find out our first impressions.
Cloud storage. You have it with Dropbox, SkyDrive, iCloud, and a gazillion other third-party providers. There’s absolutely no shortage of services available for your desktop and virtually every smartphone and tablet on the market. And oddly enough, Google has kept itself largely out of the game until now, content with simply offering Docs, which was doing double-duty as an online document suite and online data storage service.
As it turns out, Google’s had much grander plans for Docs — perhaps from the very beginning — and this is manifesting itself in Google Drive. Ultimately, that’s really what it is so far: a slightly evolved version of Docs with some new sharing, integration and developer features. Note that we use the term “so far,” since the tech giant has a knack for pushing out a service in its basic state and expanding its functionality and usefulness over time (one needs to look no further than Google+ as evidence of this). Drive, as we see it today, will likely be a much different service a year or two from now as it progresses.
As you begin using Drive, you’re given 5GB of space to play with for free, with options to pay $2.49 / month for 25GB, $5 / month for 100GB and $50 / month for a full terabyte. Upgraded accounts will also be blessed with 25GB of Gmail storage, a nice perk compared to the 10GB Google gives you gratis. If you’re looking for a price comparison between this and the competition, check out our table here.
Drive doesn’t seem to be terribly particular about the types of files you choose to store in your cloud — we uploaded everything from .mov files to Office docs and even APKs, and each one was easily downloadable — and every one can be shared with your peers. The only requirement we’ve seen so far is that no file can exceed 10GB, a milestone that far outpaces many of Drive’s major competitors.
Overall, there’s not much to the service beyond that. Google’s keeping it all simple for now, offering a desktop app that makes file transfers much faster and easier than what was available on Docs previously. Let’s dive into some of the features that Drive offers.
SDK
Not surprisingly, Google didn’t leave its developers in the dark when Drive launched. The Chrome web store already features 18 web apps with Google Drive integration, and the SDK is now available to everyone else that wants to add an extra dose of happiness to their own projects. Doing so will certainly beef up the appeal of the service as more choices get tossed into the web store, and we were anxious to check out a few of the apps already waiting for our perusal. So how can devs take advantage of Drive?
MindMeiser, a brain mapping application, now gives you the ability to view, share and edit map files directly from Drive. HelloFax lets you sign and fax docs, and even installs a folder within Drive that can store all of your incoming and outgoing faxes. Lulu’s web app now offers you the chance to publish your docs to its service. Aviary photo editor makes it possible for you to take any of your images, edit them in a new window and save the new version — as well as every previous iteration of the edited file — in your account. This is just scratching the surface, but we’re quite certain we’ll be seeing a lot more handy uses come as a result of the Drive SDK.
Browser interface
Have you used Google Docs recently? If you have, you won’t need to worry about getting used to some brand new user interface within the web browser. In fact, Drive exhibits the same minimalistic-style user experience we’ve come to expect across the board with Google’s suite of services, so it won’t take much time for you to get everything figured out.
Drive is set up with the search bar on top and two panels encompassing the remainder of the screen: the menu panel on the left and the list of docs on the right. From the left, you’re given the opportunity to either create a new doc or upload an existing file from your desktop. Below this, you’ll see My Drive as well as options for shared, starred and recent docs. There’s also a “more” section, which you can use to filter your choices to match whatever specific criteria you’re interested in. Above the standard list of docs on the right panel you’ll see a row of sorting and viewing options as well as a settings menu. Right-clicking folders or docs will also prompt a special menu of available features: you can go here to share, download, rename and reorganize the selection. There’s plenty more here for you, but many options will vary depending on the kind of file you’re trying to access.
All of the sharing functionality has been brought over from Docs. This includes public file sharing, a feature you’ll find on SkyDrive but not Dropbox. And as we’ve come to expect with any of the myriad services that the company boasts, it has been integrated (to an extent) with its social network, Google+. When writing up a new post, you’re now given the ability to attach an image that you’ve stored on Drive. Integration options will continue to expand over time, according to the company blog, as we’ll soon be able to attach stuff from Drive into Gmail (although this is admittedly already possible by using the Android app).
Something that threw us off at first was the matter of photo compression. We were concerned that large image files would be significantly compressed when we uploaded them to the service, and fortunately it appears that each picture remains fully conserved at its original size. The only exception to this that we could see is that when viewed directly from the browser, 4MB photos would show up as only 0.2MB. Downloading the file to your computer or Android device, however, still offered us the full monty.
Desktop apps
Apple and Microsoft fans alike can relish in the spoils of Google Drive, because the company has made a desktop app available for both Mac and Windows. This app works in a very similar fashion to the kinds you’d find in other cloud storage options such as Dropbox: after a quick and easy installation process, you’ll see a Google Drive folder pop up on your desktop (or wherever on the computer you’d prefer to store it). Once there, the folder begins syncing the contents of My Drive, and within a matter of minutes you’ll see a representation of everything you have hanging out in your online storage. From here it’s just a matter of dragging and dropping the files you choose, no matter what type of file format you want to add. This is a great option for heavy Drive users that don’t want the hassle of uploading files directly through the browser’s interface.
After dragging and dropping your docs into your desktop folder, they’ll automatically pop up in the Drive on your web browser — regardless of which kind you prefer to use — and the service’s corresponding Android app. You won’t have to refresh the browser to see the recent changes, but you’ll need to manually do so on the mobile version.
Android app
The Google Drive app on Android is going to be an experience much similar to what we had with the web browser: the user interface doesn’t vary much from the original Docs app. Since Drive is essentially a one-upped version of Docs, it shouldn’t surprise you that the Drive app isn’t even a separate program — if you’ve been using Docs on your Android device already, a simple update is all you need in order to start using the new service. Upon opening the refreshed program, you’ll see a menu that offers to take you to the full listing or you can opt to see only items that have been shared, starred, or made available for offline use.
No matter which option you choose, you’ll still be able to access the usual menu in which you can create a new document or upload an image, music track or voice recording. You can also change how the docs are sorted or just simply refresh (read: sync) your folder to see any additions that have been recently thrown in there.
One of our major concerns when testing out the Drive app was if and how our docs could be saved directly onto the phone, without needing to access the app each time. Naturally, since every document can be saved for offline use, you can still easily view the ones that are most important to you regardless of your data connection. However, what if you want to save an image from Drive into your gallery? Or a PDF? How about a song or movie? That’s a completely different story, in most cases.
Certain doc formats, such as PDF and Word types, can be easily added to your phone’s file system without a huge amount of hassle. Upon accessing the file within Drive, you can go into menu, then file, and finally choose “save as,” which gives you the ability to save directly to your device (Dropbox and Skydrive are also included as options as well, though this can be done even faster by choosing the “send” feature). It takes a few steps, but it’s at least doable in a reasonable amount of time. They can also be reformatted to fit your mobile’s screen so they’re easier to read without pinching-to-zoom. Fortunately, these file types can also be sent to your local printer with no need to leave the Drive app at all.
What if you want to save a music file on your device? It’s possible, provided you’re willing to email it to yourself, open it on your phone or tablet and save the attachment from there. If you don’t want to worry about going through the process, you can still listen to it within the app itself, but it won’t play in the background, which means you’ll run into a major problem if you want to do anything else on your phone while you groove to your favorite jams. This whole frustration goes for several other file types as well, such as movies, images and even files that use the standard Google Doc format (Gdoc spreadsheets, for instance, can be emailed in PDF format, but can’t be directly saved onto your device that way by default).
If you’d like to watch one of the videos from Drive and you don’t mind watching it directly via the app, you can do so — but each movie file is highly compressed. When we uploaded a 350MB .MOV video to the cloud, our Android app proceeded to download a 7MB version of the movie instead. This makes sense for such large files, as a means to cut the downlink time and save your capped data plan from getting completely annihilated in one fell swoop, but don’t be expecting to get the best possible quality from it.
Are you an iOS user that pines to have the same kind of functionality? It’s coming sometime in the next few weeks, we’re told. In the meantime, just point your Safari browser to Drive’s mobile site and you’ll find that plenty of the same features are available to you.
Wrap-up
As Google mentioned in its introductory blog post, this is just the beginning. And for the company’s sake, we hope it is. What we see today is more of an evolution from Docs than it is a revolutionary new service that will blow the mind of anyone that experiences it. That said, we also recognize that there’s plenty of room for growth, as well as further integration with the vast expanse of Google’s universe. Ultimately, we’re witnessing the company’s pledge to take on the likes of Apple and Microsoft with a fully capable cloud service of its own. Given its shortcomings, it’s got a long way to go — but at least it’s off to a respectable start.
Apple has just announced that its Worldwide Developers Conference (more commonly known as WWDC) for 2012 will take place from June 11th to June 15th. It’s a little later than usual this year, a week after this year’s E3 event, but otherwise we expect it to bring the typical developer sessions along with the highly anticipated keynote address from Apple itself. Tickets for the week are on sale now for $1,599. There isn’t a full agenda up on Apple’s site, but there are plenty of details on the six different “tracks” developers can sign up for, as well as some events and awards that will take place throughout the week. We’re still almost two months out, but feel free to start prognosticating on the meaning of that logo now.
Google Drive, LAUNCHED!!!
Google Drive is finally here, but it’s not a completely new service. It’s not just a new name for Google Docs, it also brings a different vision: your files are always in sync. Google Drive offers 5 GB of free storage, up from 1 GB, and lets you download desktop and mobile apps that synchronize your files. For now, the apps are only available for Windows, Mac and Android, but Google will release an app for iPhone and iPad in the near future.
By default, the desktop app creates a new folder for Google Drive, downloads all the files uploaded to Google Docs and adds shortcuts for the files created using Google Docs apps. This way, the files download to your computer are available offline and can be opened using your favorite apps, while the files created using Google Docs can only open in a browser. If you use Chrome, you can also open some of the files offline. For some people, this will be confusing.
Another issue is that Google offers some new storage plans. The sad thing is that Google’s new storage plans are a lot more expensive that the previous ones: now you need to pay $2.49/month (almost $30/year) for 25 GB, instead of $5/year for 20 GB. They’re still cheaper than Dropbox’s plans, but they’re more expensive than Microsoft’s plans. Microsoft downgraded the free quota from 25 GB to 7 GB, but existing users can still keep it.
If you upgrade to one of the new plans, Google offers 30 GB of additional Gmail storage. For some reason, the shared storage is no longer available for Gmail and it’s now limited to Google Drive and Picasa Web Albums.
Here are the old plans:
and the new ones:
Gmail now offers 10 GB of free storage, while Google Drive only offers 5 GB. Instead of encouraging users to send attachments, the files could be stored in Google Drive.
Google Drive integrates with third-party apps and one of them is already enabled by default: Pixlr, a photo editor. You can also install some Chrome apps that integrate with Google Drive. There’s a new “open with” item that lets you pick one of the apps from the contextual menu.
There are many other changes: a grid view, collections are now called folders, an activity view that shows “live updates of everything you and others have modified”.
“Drive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience. You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you’ll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we’re working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxes, edit videos and create website mockups directly from Drive,” explains Google. Ironically, the Google blog post is written by Sundar Pichai, who killed the Google Docs project back in 2008. “I don’t think we need GDrive anymore. Files are so 1990,” he said at that time.
Web design inspiration
inspirational Web Design galleries, the latest findings from the wonderful world of design. Amazing high quality artworks in various categories from great designers all over the globe.
Sometimes we get lucky, and today is one of those days. I got a draft release from a partner of Google’s upcoming Google Drive service and it gives away a wealth of information about how Google plans to take on the incumbent Dropbox. The short story? 5 GB of storage, and it launches next week, likely on Tuesday athttp://drive.google.com
Now let’s talk details. It’s no surprise that it will roll out for free. What’s interesting though is that Google is planning to start everyone with 5 GB of storage. Of course you can buy more, but that trumps Dropbox’s 2 GB that is included with every account. Dropbox does make it easy to get more space, including 23 GB of potential upgrades for HTC users.
What’s also interesting is the wording related to how the system will work. It’s been long-thought that Windows integration will come easy, but that getting the Google Drive icon into the Mac a la Dropbox would be a bit harder. From what we’re reading, Google Drive will work “in desktop folders” on both Mac and Windows machines, which still leaves the operation question unanswered.
But there is one very solid piece of news – Google Drive is expected to launch in the middle of next week. Given how big companies such as Apple, Google and the rest operate, I’m placing my bets on Tuesday, but Wednesday is also a popular day for Google updates. In fact, TechCrunch seems to have gotten their hands onto the app itself.
Now as for the reliability of the information? It’s not at all uncommon for big companies to launch with partners for new features. When that happens, the partners will often-times have a heads up to integration and specifics, and that’s exactly what appears to have happened here as it did with the Lucidchart leak from last week. We’ll have to wait and see exactly how it all works out, but let’s just say that our earlier prediction of in-app document editing is pretty solid as well, given the nature of the release that was sent to us today.
A critical piece of this social layer is a design that grows alongside our aspirations. So today we’re introducing a more functional and flexible version of Google+. We think you’ll find it easier to use and nicer to look at, but most importantly, it accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google.
Navigation you can make your own One of the first things you’ll notice is a new way to get around the stream. Instead of static icons at the top, there’s a dynamic ribbon of applications on the left. This approach comes with lots of perks, but some of our favorites include:
You can drag apps up or down to create the order you want
You can hover over certain apps to reveal a set of quick actions
You can show or hide apps by moving them in and out of “More”
Taken together, these powers make it easier to access your favorites, and to adjust your preferences over time. We’ve also built the ribbon with the future in mind, giving us an obvious (and clutter-free) space for The Next Big Feature, and The Feature After That. So stay tuned.
Conversations you’ll really care about Once you’ve upgraded to Google+, it’s easy to share with your circles from just about anywhere. We’re dreaming bigger, though. We’re aiming for an experience that fuses utility with beauty—one that inspires you to connect with others, and cherish the conversations that unfold. Today’s update is an important step in this direction, including:
Full bleed photos and videos that’ll make you really proud to post
A stream of conversation “cards” that make it easier to scan and join discussions
An activity drawer that highlights the community around your content
Simply put, we’re hoping to make sharing more awesome by making it more evocative. You know that feeling you get when a piece of art takes your breath away, or when a friend stops by with unexpected gifts? We want sharing to feel like that, every single time.
A new home for hanging out Google+ Hangouts uses live video to bring people together, and the results range from heartwarming to breathtaking to music-making. Today we’re adding a dedicated Hangouts page that creates even more opportunities to connect in person, including:
An always-updated list of invitations from the people in your circles
Quick access to every public and On Air hangout, for those times when you want to meet someone new, or watch a live broadcast
A rotating billboard of popular hangouts, pro tips and other items you don’t want to miss
By highlighting all the hangouts you can join, all over the world, it’s now easier to spend time together—even be there for each other. And with efforts like hangout apps already underway, you can expect more hangouts in more places in the future.
Getting there from here Today’s Google+ update extends beyond navigation, the stream and hangouts. For instance: there’s a new Explore page that shows what’s interesting and trending across the network. And a new profile with much bigger photos. And a new chat list that puts your friends front and center. And a whole lot more.
We’re rolling out all of these improvements over the next few days, so please check back if you don’t see them yet. In the meantime, you can visit this overview to learn more.
By focusing on you, the people you care about, and the stuff you’re into, we’re going to continue upgrading all the features you already know and love—from Search and Maps to Gmail and YouTube. With today’s foundational changes we can move even faster—toward a simpler, more beautiful Google.
When Mike and I started Instagram nearly two years ago, we set out to change and improve the way the world communicates and shares. We’ve had an amazing time watching Instagram grow into a vibrant community of people from all around the globe. Today, we couldn’t be happier to announce that…
Hello, Google Play
Google is taking a big new step in bringing all of its content arms under one roof — and that new entity is called Google Play. Starting today, Google will begin a rebranding of the Android Market, Google Music, Google Books, and its video offerings. Until now, all of those content hubs had more or less resided under the banner of the Android Market, and it seems like the company is interested in making users understand those disparate pockets of content as a unified whole. A company spokesman called Play “an evolution of Android Market.”
Google Play (called the Google Play Store in some instances) will become the single destination for all of the company’s buyable content. Accordingly, the standard Android books, music, and video apps will become Google Play Books, Google Play Music, and Google Play Movies. But it’s not just about devices. Google Play is meant to bring together the company’s content offerings in both mobile and browser experiences.
Android devices running version 2.2 or later will have their Market app automatically updated “over the coming days,” while the Google Play Store moniker will make its way into the Google sandbar, much like the Google+ service. The Android Market name will be retired, though you won’t miss it much since the Google Play Store looks nearly identical.
The Internet is, by most scientific estimates, friggin’ huge.
While only about one-third of the world’s population is connected, the amount of data we generate and consume is likely to blow your hair back. Perhaps the best way to put all those petabytes in perspective is to look at what goes down in a single day.
How much “stuff” happens on the Internet every 24 hours? Would you believe that people send 294 billion emails are sent? That 2 million blog posts are written? That 864,000 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube alone? How am I supposed to watch all of that when I’m only on season one of Downton Abbey?
Best Ad I’ve seen in a long time
The 2012 advert by the Guardian newspaper where the 3 little pigs are arrested for boiling up the big bad wolf and cause controversy and the public to explode via media attention and social sharing
I hope more companies start to get creative with advertising like The Guardian have done with this 3 little pigs masterpiece, It definitely has to be the best advert I’ve seen this year!
